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There will be times in your life when you need to experience stress, as it is essential for your growth. Simply put, low-level stress is actually healthy, leading to feeling engaged, stimulated, and able to experience everyday life without it feeling like too much. As good as stress can be, there comes a point when it can begin negatively impacting your life—taking a toll on you physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.

Engaging in art has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety levels and have a positive impact on mental health and well-being. One of the eight components of wellness is creative wellness, and making space to embrace your inner artist can have a ripple effect in others areas of wellness. Perhaps you choose to engage in art on your own time, but you can also find healing through participating in art therapy.

As a human, you most likely experience stress, depression, and anxiety on some level. Thoughts and feelings may get overwhelming at times and have you questioning how to stop letting them take up so much time and space in your life. The bad news is that thoughts and feelings are part of the human experience and are here to stay, but that is only bad if you let them become bad. The good news is that there are practices, such as meditation, that can help you navigate low moods and difficult emotions with greater ease.

Forgiving another person for the pain they have caused can be challenging. Carrying around a grudge can also be a significant burden on one’s mental health and relationships. Substance abuse may also develop as a coping mechanism. Suffering behind long-held resentments or anger can cause immense unmanageability that can be remedied through forgiveness and letting go of those painful feelings.

If you ever feel overwhelmed by racing thoughts and anxiety, it can be helpful to cultivate a practice of journaling to experience peace of mind.

Battling the voices of judgment, self-doubt, and inadequacy is exhausting. It can hold you back from doing and being all you desire. As that is true, you may wonder how can you possibly begin to experience a true sense of self-acceptance, compassion, and freedom when it feels as if your inner critic is holding you hostage? Through learning to relate to your inner critic differently, you can find freedom.

The power of your breath is remarkable and is oftentimes forgotten. Although the saying “Just breathe” is cliche, it is also true. Although, it can be difficult to “just breathe” in moments of extreme emotion, like anxiety, anger, or grief. Intentional breathwork can help you regulate powerful emotions like these, so it is helpful to know about them and practice them before you need them.

Consistently getting a good night's rest is an essential ingredient in the recipe for good health. Sleep regulates bodily systems and plays a significant role in the brain storing information received throughout the day. Without adequate sleep, an individual cannot function properly. It is understandable how someone having trouble sleeping would turn to prescription medications. Unfortunately, sleep drugs like Valium are not a long-term solution for sleep disorders. It can make the condition worse and lead to addiction.

It can be hard to know what you need to experience healing, especially if you have spent a long time feeling at war with yourself because of addiction or mental illness. Perhaps it seems as if you do not know what you truly need, or how to even find out what you need. Part of healing is about learning to understand what your true needs are, and building self-trust to honor them.

Tending to your physical well-being is just as important as tending to your emotional well-being through various therapies that help you explore your inner worlds and heal past and present emotional wounds. Because healing from a holistic perspective—integrating wellness for the mind, body, and spirit, not just the area specifically affected—is so important for achieving and maintaining sobriety and good mental health, massage therapy is often used as a relaxation and healing technique while in treatment for mental illness and/or addiction.

Having a holistic approach to healing can allow people to experience wellness from the inside out. This type of approach to healing creates space for sustainable and long-lasting healing in a way that approaching just one aspect of treatment for mental illness and addiction would not.

A person’s “window of tolerance” refers to the upper and lower thresholds at which they can effectively manage their emotions and respond to circumstances while under stress. Those suffering from post-traumatic stress may have narrower windows, making life more challenging to navigate. It is important to understand this concept and suggest how clients can widen their window through clinical and holistic therapies offered at Avalon Malibu.